Science is a massive underlying fact of our world. Scientific methods underlie much of the food that we eat, the materials that we use, the cars that we drive. Like a great big puppetmaster, science is the foundation of everything from plastics to mastics, fizzy drinks to medicine. Without science our world would be unrecognisable.
My gripe with science goes into the foundational thinking that lies beneath these undeniably useful facets of modern life. And to be clear, I love science in many ways. There is science in flower remedies, aromatherapy, permaculture… there is possibly even a science of love-making.
What concerns me, is the way the scientific method works as I understand it.
In nature, although there are rhythms and waves, there is also unpredictability. Nature is full of little accidents. Part of the great ecological mother-machine is devoted to randomness, even relies on it. If a tree falls in the forest, it becomes a feast for small animals, a home for slightly bigger ones, and eventually part of the humus (organic matter, or soil) needed for that forest to itself continue to thrive – whether we hear it or not. The cause of that tree falling would not necessarily be repeatable, nor potentially ever known.
The scientific method however relies on two basic principles. For something to be scientifically valid it must come from an experiment that complies with certain rules. The two most important rules are that the experiment must be able to be replicated, and that the results are measurable. What this means is that if a process is to be truly scientific it must be able to be repeated to show similar results.
This translates to be a process that often does not allow for the randomness of life.
If results are different in a small percentage of cases, this can be written off. If results are different in a large number of cases then the experiment’s results are inconclusive and the scientific method has worked its magic and pretty much neutered the idea.
So what about the quark? Experiments on the quark, the most basic and universal fabric of everything, have proven that the intention of the experimenter affects its behaviour. If the investigating party expects the quark to zig, it zigs. If they expect it to zag, it zags.
You see, the one great thing that’s largely absent from science and the scientific method is us. Our nature, and our intentions have a fundamental affect on the way the world is.
And thus, we and our nature make our lives extremely unpredictable – thank goodness.
And so it is that any one of us could make a decision to eat 10% less meat, thus reducing the amount of land and resources needed to keep us alive, and leaving some for someone else that needs it more.
Or we could reduce, re-use and recyle.
Or we could grow a plant, and maybe a little food for ourselves.
With these small things, we may just change the world in a surprising way.
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